I'm just completely stripping down and rebuilding the rear calipers that were on my 2005 vRS. Going to work one day the O/S rear stuck on making for a very stressful journey as I had smoke from the brakes on a fast dual carriageway with no lay-byes. I had third party replacement ones fitted that day.

 

 

 

So stripping down the failed original ones is quite an eye-opener. The amount of dirt that had made it past the rear handbrake seal was quite incredible, a horrible mess of corrosion and dirt. The seal in the unit is only a fairly basic o-ring which also ended up loose and leaking a bit. The piston had a corrosion band around it and was scrap. Complete kits are available to rebuild but actually getting the calipers apart and seeing what is going on inside was a real shock. No wonder it failed.

 

Anyone else here done a full rear caliper rebuild? Were you ones in such a mess behind the rear seal?

 

I can't believe how much easier they work with no dirt and gunge inside. Well worth doing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rebuilt all the calipers on my old 1.4 16v AUB which had rear discs....Got the seal kits from the dealers parts dept., did the work myself...& yes crap /rust builds up there but sounds like yours is long overdue the rebuild!!

On 15/01/2023 at 17:18, fabdavrav said:

I rebuilt all the calipers on my old 1.4 16v AUB which had rear discs....Got the seal kits from the dealers parts dept., did the work myself...& yes crap /rust builds up there but sounds like yours is long overdue the rebuild!!

 

Yes for sure. The inner circlip was a challenge - as its under constant tension from a compressed o-ring. I ended up having to clamp it together in a press while fitting it.

I bought the "bent" circlip pliers in good time, so far not been required, but there still is time! (2015 VW Polo).